The Evolution of Game Payments: Moving Beyond Payment Gateways

TLDR — What Is the Future of Online Gaming Payments?

• The future of payment gateway for games goes beyond basic gateways. Publishers need solutions that manage global payments and compliance easily across markets.
• Coda’s Merchant of Record (MoR) represents this shift, taking on taxation, fraud protection, and regulatory complexity on behalf of publishers.
• With Codapay, publishers can offer 400+ local and global payment methods across 70+ markets, expanding into new markets and accelerating growth.

What Gaming Publishers Need To Know

A payment gateway is a service that securely processes online payments between players and game publishers. That could mean topping up in-game currency, buying a season pass, or purchasing a character skin. Once just a backend connector, today’s gateways must manage global payments, compliance, and conversion.

In this blog, we’ll unpack the evolution of game payments and how Coda helps publishers stay focused on what they do best, building great games.

The New Landscape of Online Gaming Payments

For years, game publishers were reliant upon centralized app stores for monetization, paying high fees and losing direct player relationships. Recent regulatory changes, such as the EU Digital Markets Act (DMA), now require major app stores to allow alternative payments and web store links, giving publishers more control over how they monetize.

How Does a Gaming Payment Gateway Work?

A payment gateway is the bridge between a player’s payment method and the publisher’s account. When a player makes a purchase, the gateway does more than move money, it keeps the experience instant and secure. 

1. Authorizes and encrypts the transaction securely.
2. Validates the payment method (card, wallet, carrier billing, etc.).
3. Processes the payment through banks or payment networks.
4. Confirms and completes the transaction instantly, ensuring the in-game item or credit is delivered.

For gaming publishers, the gateway’s job doesn’t end there. A strong gateway should also be able to handle currency conversions, tax compliance, and fraud prevention behind the scenes to keep payments flowing smoothly, no matter where the players are.

The Real Challenges Behind  Gaming Payments

As publishers expand globally, it multiplies the complexity. Here’s what often stands in the way of growth:

1. Fraud & Chargebacks: High transaction volumes and virtual goods make gaming a frequent target for fraud. Stolen cards, promo abuse, and refund exploitation can erode profit margins.
2. Localization & Currency Barriers: Every market has its own preferred payment methods. What works in South Korea or Brazil might not work in the Middle East. Without local payment options and proper currency handling, players drop off at checkout.
3. Poor Checkout Experience: A complicated or unbranded checkout flow leads to high abandonment rates. In gaming especially, players expect fast, seamless, and secure experiences that feel native to the game itself.

The Coda Solution: Evolution of a Gaming Payment Gateway

As such, for gaming publishers looking to go global and direct-to-consumer, supporting multiple currencies, payment preferences, and tax rules is key. That’s why a modern payment gateway must also act as a Merchant of Record (MoR). That means going beyond technical infrastructure to take on the financial, legal, and operational complexity of selling digital content across borders, simplifying operations and protecting revenue at scale.

At Coda, we combine the power of a gaming payment gateway with MoR expertise to simplify operations and protect revenue at scale.

• Built-in tax and compliance: From VAT to GST, we handle calculation, collection, and remittance while staying ahead of regulatory shifts in LATAM, SEA, MENA, and beyond.
• Smarter fraud protection: Machine learning blocks promo abuse and chargebacks before they hit your bottom line.
• Cross-border payments, simplified: We take care of settlement, reconciliation, and currency exchange so you get paid accurately and on time.

By bringing these layers together, Coda gives gaming publishers the freedom to scale globally with less complexity, turning payments from an operational hurdle into a competitive advantage.

A Payment Infrastructure Built For Online Games

So as your player base grows, there’ll be a need for a gaming payment gateway that grows with you too. Codapay, a core component of Coda’s payment solution stack, delivers global coverage, built for the realities of modern game publishing.

• Reach more players with 400+ local and global payment methods, including player favorites like Pix and GCash in Brazil and the Philippines respectively. 
• Deliver a seamless player experience through Coda-hosted payment checkouts that are branded, secure, and continuously A/B tested to reduce drop-offs and drive higher conversions.

Every transaction is optimized for trust and conversion, helping gaming publishers capture more value with every player, in every market.

Reach More Gamers. Grow Where It Matters.

The gaming economy is borderless, your monetization should be too. With Codapay and Coda’s MoR capabilities, publishers of any size can launch, scale, and monetize globally.

Game payments have come a long way and the opportunity is clear. It’s time to go beyond a payment gateway to shape the success of your title. Ready to power your game’s growth from launch to global scale?

Get started.